Placer Dome subsidiary Compania Minera Zaldivar is now benefiting from a novel dynamic pad reclaim and stacking system, commissioned at the end of last year. This advanced piece of technology itself resulted from an interesting three-way partnership handled by US firms RAHCO International and Continental Conveyors, and the German company FAM Forderanlagen Magdeburg.Located in the Andean Precordillera of northern Chile some 1,000 km north of the country's capital Santiago, the Zaldivar operation does have some experience with RAHCO's technology as a 700 m mobile stacking conveyor has been operating on the site since 1995. The brief for the new installation was to set up the complete reclaim and stacking system, with the aim of convening the existing permanent multi-lift leach pad to a reusable on/off pad system. In the past, the Zaldivar mine had not been reclaiming leached copper ore from its permanent pile, which had resulted in the stockpiles becoming higher and higher. However, Compania Minera Zaldivar decided to change its approach and utilise stockpiled material, using a specially-built bucketwheel reclaimer.
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